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Adrianus Johannes Lemmens (1904-1990)
}} | death_date = | birth_place = Hatert | death_place = Hengelo | placeofburial = | placeofburial_label = | placeofburial_coordinates = | nickname = | birth_name = | allegiance = | branch = Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij | serviceyears = | rank = second engineer | servicenumber = | unit = | commands = | battles = | battles_label = | awards = Dutch War Commemorative Cross | spouse = | relations = | laterwork = | signature = | website = }} Adrianus Johannes Lemmens (Hatert, 24 March 1904 – Hengelo, 27 June 1990) 'Obituary' was a Dutch Chief engineer with the K.P.M. Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (Royal Merchant Navy Company). On 24 October 1953 he received the Dutch War Commemorative Cross (Oorlogsherinneringkruis met gespen) with the clasp for general War service and the clasp for Special war duties for his bravery during the war activities on the Java Sea in 1941-1942.Dossier of the Dutch Ministerie van Verkeer en Waterstaat, no. 5348 KAB/1006/1006/12 dated 24 October 1953 Parents and wives Lemmens was born as a son of Johannes Gerardus Lemmens and Catharina Maria Manders. Married first in Surabaya on 6 February 1929 (divorced Batavia Dutch East Indies on 17 September 1929) to Dolly Gerarda Bogaardt,born Mojokerto, Indonesia,3 Apr. 1940, daughter of ernest Theodoor Bogaardt and the native woman Kassirah. He later married in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, on 7 November 1929 Gertruda Catharina Geutjes (1909-1996). They returned shortly thereafter to Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies now Indonesia. 'Nieuw ingezetenen', in De Indische Courant, 1 December 1937 - retrieved 29 March 2013 Three children were born from the second marriage, Karin (Toos), Jan and Gerard. Karin and Gerard both married British subjects (Conway and Macleod) Career Lemmens received his exam of second engineer in April 1932. 'Machinistenexamen', in Nieuws van de Dag voor Nederlands-Indie, 18 April 1932 - retrieved 29 March 2013 In this rank he served from 5 June 1940 until 2 January 1942See document listed under gallery on board of the Van Overstraten, Van Cloon and the Janssens. At the end of 1941 he was sailing officially as 2nd Engineer but replacing the Chief Engineer on the K.P.M. ship Janssens from Surabaya to Singapore with torpedo's for the Dutch submarines, which together with the British and Australian ships was involved in protecting Singapore from the threat of bombardment by the Japanese planes. During that time the Dutch Navy due to their shortage in their own ships rented merchant navy ships of which the Janssens was one. Lemmens was on board of the Janssens from 5 June 1940 till 2 January 1942 and then on the S.S Liran until 1 March 1942. The S.S. Liran had originally been a Hungarian owned ship ( when it was named s.s. Nuygat) but was in 1941 confiscated by the Dutch Government.see http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?59292 On board of the Janssens there were, further to the crew, also a survivor of a Dutch submarine sunk in the Gulf of Siam and survivors of the British torpedo ships, the flagship Prince of Wales and the Repulse. Afterwards the crew and the survivors safely returned to Surabaya. Lemmens received in 1953 for his bravery on board of the Janssens the Dutch War Commemorative Cross with two clasps. On 7th December 1941, the same day as the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the Netherlands declared war to Japan and this marks the start of the Dutch East Indies campaign. In February 1942 the Japanese Imperial Army invaded the islands of Sumatra and Java which were a part of the Dutch East Indies. They first rounded up all the man in the East of Java, where Lemmens and his family lived, see 2008. Inez Hollander. Silenced Voices to transport them to (labour or POW) camps or many were thrown in Surabaya in pigbaskets into the sea. The Dutch East Indies inhabitants promptly nicknamed the Japanese '' the yellow faces'' . During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies Lemmens was first interred in Camp Kesilir in East Java as the family lived in Malang, East Java. Lemmens was then taken by train to the prison BanyuBiru on Central Java, followed by train and transport by ship to Changi Prison near Singapore and a camp on Devil's island (Pulu Damer) near Singapore. At Devil's Island near Singapore prisoners were forced to dig a dock for the Japanese. Prisoners sabotaged this project by putting sugar into the cement which made it brittle. Lemmens survived the war and was freed by a Gurkha regiment in August 1945 after the capitulation by Emperor Hirohito of Japan. Internment card During the last year of the war Lemmens saved fellow prisoner, Ben (surname lost) from starvation by pulling out all his gold filled teeth and selling them for food in order to feed this friend. In 1947 Ben made a special trip to the Netherlands to inform Lemmens’s wife and children of the bravery of their husband and father, explaining how Lemmens's action had saved his life. In January 1946 Lemmens was reunited with his wife and children, all of whom had survived imprisonment in the prison Banjoe Biroe (BanyuBiru) in Mid Java and were also freed by a Gurkha regiment.see 2008. Inez Hollander. Silenced Voices and (Dutch) 2010. Pauline Slot. Soerabaja Due to the fact that the war with Japan finished on 15 August 1945 and the Indonesians started a civil war (War of Independence) two days later on 17 August 1945 the family remained for security reasons in the prison Banjoe Biroe until December 1945. At this time they were taken by a convoy of a Gurkha regiment under the protection of accompanying British planes to the nearest harbour town of Semarang in Mid Java. Eventually the family was taken by the British on which Prince Philip served as a Naval officer from Semarang to Singapore. It was in the streets of Singapore that the reunion between Lemmens and his family took place, when by chance he asked for directions from a random person who turned out to be, in fact, his eldest son. Gallery File:Loss of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse.jpg|The end of the Repulse File:HMS Prince of Wales sinking.jpg|''Prince of Wales'' sinking A.J.Lemmens.circa 1946.jpg|A.J.Lemmens , Singapore 1946|link=A.J.Lemmens kruis opa 2.jpg|Oorlogs Herinnerings Kruis van A.J.Lemmens|link=A.J. Lemmens LEMMENS A.J. EPSON024.jpg|A. J. Lemmens in 1949|link=A.J. Lemmens Lemmens Adrianus Johannes.jpg|Adrianus Johannes Lemmens ca. 1929|link=Adrianus Johannes Lemmens Mrs. Lemmens my Mum in Soerabaja in 1938.jpg|G.C. Lemmens-Geutjes in Surabaya, 1938|link=Adrianus Johannes Lemmens LEMMENS FAMILY 001.jpg Singapore 1946.jpg|Jan Lemmens, Mother (G.C.Lemmens-Geutjes), Karin (Toos) and Gerard Lemmens, Singapore 1946|link=Adrianus Johannes Lemmens (1904-1909) External links * List of Names BanjoeBiroe camp 10 * Lemmens IV References *1950. Ir. H. Th. Bekker. De K.P.M. in Oorlogstijd 1939-1945. J.H. de Bussy *Website of Dutch submarines * 2008. Inez Hollander. Silenced Voices. ISBN 0896802698 * 2010. Pauline Slot. Soerabaja * 1986. Joop Hulsbus. '' En de zon werd rood'' (And the sun became red) Category:Dutch military personnel of World War II Category:Dutch mechanical engineers Category:Dutch prisoners of war